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Coalition News

FAC Helps Defeat Effort by School District to Recover Nearly $500K in Attorneys Fees From Records Requester

FAC April 11, 2018

A court in Hayward, CA yesterday denied an unprecedented effort by a public school district to recover nearly half a million dollars in attorneys fees from a woman who had requested public records from the district. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Brand ruled that the motion by the Newark Unified School District to recover $449, 317.60 from Elizabeth Brazil must be denied because NUSD’s effort conflicted with the California Public Records Act, which allows

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CA Senate Bill 1421 Would Bring Desperately Needed Transparency to Police Misconduct Files

FAC April 9, 2018

The First Amendment Coalition strongly supports California Senate Bill 1421, which would bring long-overdue transparency to records relating to police misconduct. The bill would require disclosure of records relating to investigations of serious police misconduct, including officer-involved shootings and instances where police officers have lied under oath. Law enforcement officers are alone among public employees in California (at least those who work for agencies subject to the California Public Records Act) in being able to

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UCLA Turns Over Video of Contentious Event with Treasury Secretary After Public Records Requests Flood in

FAC March 12, 2018

Photo credit: UCLA The University of California Los Angeles has turned over video footage of a contentious event with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in which he was interrupted by heckling student protesters. The university initially refused to publish the material after Mnuchin’s “revoked his consent” for it to be shared publicly, but the school eventually gave in after a flood of public requests from the First Amendment Coalition and other groups. The moderated discussion

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Amici Briefs Digest – March 2018

FAC March 7, 2018

Here are amicus briefs and/or letters FAC has either authored or joined since Dec. 2018: FAC Authored Amicus Briefs Brazil v. Newark Unified: On February 2, FAC filed an amicus brief that we co-authored with the ACLU in a trial court proceeding.  This was a fairly unusual move for FAC.  We have generally steered clear of trial-court amicus briefs for a number of reasons, including (a) trial court rulings have limited or no impact beyond

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FAC Fights Unprecedented Effort by School District to Recover Nearly $500K From Records Requester

FAC February 6, 2018

The First Amendment Coalition and the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday submitted a friend-of-court brief arguing that an effort by the Newark Unified School District to recover nearly half a million dollars in attorneys’ fees from a woman who requested public records under the California Public Records Act is legally meritless, unprecedented, and would cast an intolerable chill over the public’s ability to learn about their government. Newark Unified has asked the Alameda County

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